Halloween
Haunted Real Estate: Ghost Stories, Strange Showings and Massachusetts' Most Haunted
Haunted real estate shows up more often than you'd think. Buyers walk out of showings over a bad feeling. A New York court once treated a house as legally haunted. A New Jersey couple never moved into their dream house. Massachusetts even has a law that mentions ghosts. Here's our Halloween tour of all of it.
Watch: Bobby McShane and I pick up where our old homes conversation left off and trade a few haunted real estate stories.
Bobby and I had just wrapped a video on old homes. Sloped floors, field stone foundations, a century of history in the basement. Then the conversation drifted where it always seems to drift in October.
Some houses feel different the second you walk in.
Has a house ever felt haunted at a showing?
More than once. We've both had buyers end a showing almost as soon as it started. The roof was fine. The price was fine. They said the house felt haunted, and they wanted out.
I never argue with that. A home is an emotional purchase before it's a financial one. If you can't picture yourself sleeping there, no updated kitchen is going to fix it. We thank the owner for their time and move on. There's always another house.
Can a court rule that a house is haunted?
One did. Every October I bring up this case, and I first wrote about it in 2024 in Spooky Real Estate.
Helen Ackley owned a Victorian at 1 LaVeta Place in Nyack, New York, right on the Hudson. She never kept her ghosts a secret. Her stories about poltergeists in the house ran in Reader's Digest back in 1977, made the local news, and landed the house on a local walking tour.
Jeffrey Stambovsky came from outside the area. He signed a contract to buy the house without hearing any of it. Once he did, he wanted out.
In 1991, New York's Appellate Division let him walk away. Ackley had spent years telling the public her house was haunted, the court reasoned, so she couldn't deny it now. No buyer can inspect for poltergeists. As far as the law was concerned, the house was haunted. People still call it the Ghostbusters ruling.
Hear the full story
We went deep on this one on the Real Estate Is Ridiculous podcast. A colleague joined us who once sold a home where a victim of the Boston Strangler had been found decades earlier. The episode runs about 44 minutes. Skip the market update and start around the 12 minute mark.
Does Massachusetts have a law about ghosts?
It does, sort of. Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 93, Section 114 covers what it calls psychologically impacted property. That includes a home that was the site of a felony, suicide or homicide, or the site of an alleged supernatural phenomenon. None of it counts as a material fact a seller or agent has to disclose.
So no, your agent doesn't have to go ghost hunting. Thank God. Picture the inspection wrapping up and your agent pulling out candles and a Ouija board.
The same law also says nobody can make a false statement about it. If you ask, you're owed a truthful answer. Mike Sr. and I settled our own approach a while back. If one of our listings were perceived as haunted to the point it could affect value, we'd disclose it. A buyer who hears the story after closing won't care what the statute allowed.
Is The Watcher a true story?
This one is Bobby's pick for the season. The Watcher on Netflix is based on a real house at 657 Boulevard in Westfield, New Jersey. It isn't a ghost story. It might be worse.
Derek and Maria Broaddus bought the 1905 Dutch Colonial in June 2014 for $1,355,657. Shortly after closing, letters started arriving from someone who signed them "The Watcher." The writer claimed their family had watched the house for generations and asked about the couple's children. The Broadduses never moved in.
They sued the former owners in 2015, claiming the sellers got a Watcher letter of their own before closing and never mentioned it. A judge dismissed the suit in 2017. The house finally sold on July 1, 2019 for $959,360, about $396,000 less than they paid. Nobody was ever charged.
Want the whole thing? Read the original reporting. The Haunting of 657 Boulevard by Reeves Wiedeman ran in New York Magazine's The Cut in 2018, and it's a fascinating read.
What are the most haunted places in Massachusetts?
Every October, the same names come up. Here are the four you hear about most, in alphabetical order, plus two I can vouch for personally.
Joshua Ward House, Salem
Built in 1784 for merchant Joshua Ward, on land once home to Sheriff George Corwin. Corwin carried out arrests and executions during the witch trials. He's the ghost most people blame.
Lizzie Borden House, Fall River
Andrew and Abby Borden were killed here in August 1892. Lizzie was charged, tried and acquitted, and the murders were never solved. You can take a tour, or book a room and spend the night.
S.K. Pierce Mansion, Gardner
Furniture maker Sylvester Pierce built this 10 bedroom Victorian in the 1880s. His wife died weeks after they moved in, and the house saw plenty of loss after that. Guests report voices and full body apparitions. I've explored it myself.
The Mount, Lenox
Edith Wharton's Berkshires estate. She bought the land in 1901 and was an avid collector of ghost stories. Visitors report figures in period dress, and some say they've seen Wharton herself.
Two more I've stayed overnight in
They get less attention than the big four. I'd put both on your list anyway.
Houghton Mansion, North Adams. In August 1914, Albert Houghton's car went down an embankment on the way to Vermont. His daughter Mary and a family friend, Mrs. Hutton, died. The driver died by suicide in the mansion's basement the next morning, and Houghton died days later. Visitors say he never left.
Longfellow's Wayside Inn, Sudbury. It bills itself as America's oldest operating inn. The legend centers on Jerusha Howe, who waited in Room 9 for an English traveler who promised to come back for her and never did.
I've been trying to talk the team into turning a fall listing into a haunted open house for two years now. I'm still working on it. Happy Halloween.
Got a house with a story?
Buying or selling, I'm always up for a good one. Let's talk about your next move.
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- Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 93, Section 114, Psychologically Impacted Property. malegislature.gov
- Stambovsky v. Ackley, 169 A.D.2d 254 (N.Y. App. Div. 1991). Case summary
- Reeves Wiedeman, "The Haunting of 657 Boulevard," The Cut, New York Magazine, 2018. thecut.com
- Bloomberg via Boston.com, "N.J. 'Watcher' house of creepy-letters fame finds a buyer at last," August 9, 2019. boston.com
This article is general information and is not legal advice. Consult a Massachusetts real estate attorney about disclosure questions on a specific property.